Ten on Tuesday

(I decided to steal Marie and Missy's Ten on Tuesday idea. Hopefully it'll get me to blog more. Thanks girls!)


1. Have you seen that Pediasure commercial where a mom and her daughter are in the grocery store and the little girls says, “But I don’t like ____” at everything the mom picks up? That was Emma today. She loves green beans. Yet this morning at Giant Eagle when I said I was going to get some she immediately said, “I don’t like green beans.” Well, yes you do, I'm getting them and you'll eat them. I'm certainly not buying Pediasure! She eats what I make and that's that. So far it's worked. She's a fabulous eater.

2. Emma was playing with her chunky animal puzzle Saturday and I suggested she line them up and take them for a “walk”. She looked at me and quite seriously said, “Good idea, Mommy”.

3. I finished 6 scrapbook pages last night. I have a bad habit of starting pages and not finishing them. Sometimes all I get done is putting the picture down, other times I complete it except for the journaling. I probably have 20 – 30 pages like this. But last night, I finished 6 of them. One going back almost 2 years! (I added some of them to the slide show on the left.)

4. Mackenzie can sit up on her own (leaning forward quite a bit) for up to minute at a time before she flops over. We’re practicing though.

5. It’s a busy week. We had a play date with my friend Lisa and her two girls yesterday morning then visited my friend Mary and her daughter last night. For the rest of the week, we’ve got baseball games, a luncheon for me, my niece’s confirmation, Mackenzie’s 6-month check-up/visit from my mom and trips to the library and fitness center.

6. I’m reading The Strong-Willed Child (And in case you wondered, the strong-willed child in question is not Mackenzie.) If anyone has any parenting book suggestions, please pass them on.

7. Emma (speaking of strong-willed child) is getting quite bossy. As in “Mommy, stop talking.” “Mommy, don’t sit there!” “ Mommy, don’t sing.” Another common thing I hear all day long is “I don’t want to _____.” Could be anything from taking a nap to putting on her shoes.

8. I’m trying really hard to not drink pop during the week. Too bad I already failed and drank one last night while complete those 6 layouts. But so far so good today!

9. I want this IKEA bookcase in black/brown for the playroom side of our family room. It can hold Emma’s books, our books, toys, my scrapbook albums, photo albums and some picture frame while also cleaning up that space. Love it.

10. Michael hung this up last night for me. An early-birthday present from my in-laws that I picked out a couple weeks ago. Our daily reminder to pray more often. Something I definitely need to do. Also a reminder to start praying with Emma, teaching her a simple prayer for dinner and bedtime.

rolling the other way

This little one rolled over from back to front Friday. And I missed it. My mom was in Mackenzie's room with her when she rolled over. She's been coming so close lately, just always got her arm stuck. But Friday she did it. I couldn't believe it. Michael came in and put her on her back and she did it again. Yay, Mackenzie! (Picture from Saturday, she's being held by Grandma Sweeney. We were at Michael's game.)

Friday in pictures

My mom came over today. We went to the outlets this morning, lunch then Kohls. Got Emma the cutest pajamas as well as some play clothes. Including the perfect shirt - it's from Osh Kosh and says "Catch me if you can." Between that and the "Chatterbox" shirt, you know all there is to know about her. She talks non stop and is always on the go.

When we got back this afternoon, we took the girls out on the deck. Emma went immediately for the bubbles of course.

Notice Mackenzie's face. She doesn't seem particularly interested or excited about the bubbles.

This is the face Emma made after she tasted the bubbles. This was not the first time she tasted them. Nor was it the last this afternoon. She kept doing it! Over and over and over.

Cute butterfly sandals, courtesy of Target.

Oh, I forgot, there's one more shirt required for a complete Emma description:

She was very proud of the bubble pile she made using her new hippo bubble blower, a gift from my friend Stephanie. She stomped all over them and then created a new pile.

Blowing bubbles in my face. This amused her to no end.

First we have the hippo bubble blower in action. (Again, Mackenzie wasn't all that into the bubble blowing.)

Decapitation

For Christmas Michael got me a necklace with two birthstone charms representing Emma and Mackenzie. I loved it. It was the perfect gift for me. I'd always wanted something like this but I'd actually never told him before. He knows me well. I treasure it.

This is what Emma did to said necklace Monday while I was cutting her bangs. I had her sitting on the bathroom counter and since she was having a hard time looking straight at me, I told her to look at my necklace. Big mistake. She pulled on the charms. I told her to stop. She pulled again. And decapitated it. Or would it be a reverse decapitation since the body came off and the head stayed on? Either way, the charm is dead.



I was really upset. And Emma picked up on it. When I "yelled" at her in a very quiet and serious voice she burst into tears. Never has that happened. Usually when she's in trouble she's laughs. Really, she does. But this time she cried and cried. So we sat on the bathroom floor and were sad together. Don't be too concerned though, after about 2 minutes she was up to no good again. Little stinker.

Meet Matt

He's the one with the orange arrow pointing towards him. Apparently Matt reads this blog. Still haven't figured out what he finds so interesting.

Hi Matt. And Scott. And Maggie.


Maggie and Mackenzie. Maggie's graduating this spring and as I already told her, I'm very sad. Happy for her, of course, but sad.


After the game.

A Rainbow

Emma saw her first rainbow Friday afternoon. She was absolutely fascinated by it. And not too happy when it faded away. She's been talking about it every since.



In case you didn't see it in the first picture, it was actually a double rainbow. :)

Double-Header

Michael's team had a double-header Saturday. They played at Kent State, something they were able to do last year as well. And they won them both. :)

And now, the day in pictures.

Mackenzie and Grandpa Sweeney.


Emma was loving the rocks and kept bringing them to Grandma Sweeney.


On our walks. They had a short walking path near the stadium. According to Emma it had mountains (hills) and rivers (small stream) and a bridge (small foot bridge across the stream) and she loved it.


See the slight pink in her cheeks? I won the Mommy-of-the-Year award Saturday by not putting sunscreen on her face. She had quite the sunburn by the end of the day.


Talking to Daddy between games. She got very excited every time she saw him.


She loves apples. How do I know this? Because the only way she could eat them was to sit. And she sat. Amazing.


On our walks, I mainly got pictures of Emma's back. So I started walking backwards to get some of her face when she decided she needed to do exactly what I was doing. Which meant I got more pictures of her back.

She took a 2 hour nap during the second game.


The coach in action.

This is how I found her

this morning. Sometime between 6 am when I fed her and 7:45 am when she woke up, she turned herself sideways in her crib. Perfectly 90 degrees from where she started. And she seemed quite proud of herself, too.

5 Months

Mackenzie is 5 months old today!

I haven't taken any pictures yet today, but here are two from this past Wednesday. Which just happened to be the day she rolled over. :) And I was able to get pictures of it. I was taking some of her holding her head up (like the one below) and was able to get shots of her rolling over when it happened. She's only rolled over a couple times since then, as it does require quite a bit of work. At least that's how she acts. She rolls over once and then acts like she's too worn out to try again.


She's really liking the exersaucer now. Her feet now touch the ground so she likes to spin around and she can reach most of the toys. Plus, she's relatively safe from Emma in there.


Some highlights of my little 5 month old munchkin:

- She's a drooler. Crazy amounts of drool come out of her mouth. We had a few really rough days last week so I thought she was teething, but so far there's nothing. Maybe soon.
- She's a talker. I fear she'll be just like her sister. A chatterbox who never shuts up. She's learned to make this trilling/gargling sound and does it over and over. Also gaa and oooh. A couple weeks ago she woke up around 4 or so and was awake for an hour talking and practicing her fun new sounds, every once in a while laughing.
- She prefers baby food over formula. Sometimes she'll refuse a bottle but then eat a whole container of baby food. She definitely doesn't drink enough during the day. Unfortunately I can't force her to drink it. And not giving her baby food doesn't make her drink more formula. She just doesn't drink it. Which leads me to...
- She is still waking up to eat in the middle of the night. I'll be honest - it's annoying. If I were still nursing, it wouldn't be so bad, but getting up at 1 and 4 to make bottles is, like I said, annoying. Thankfully, the last two nights have been slightly better. She only got up once the night before last, and while she got up twice last night, only once was to eat, the other was for her binky. So hopefully, we'll soon be over this!
- Because she's really not a great sleeper. I guess I was really lucky with Emma, she was a fantastic sleeper. Mackenzie is getting better though. She's taking longer naps in the afternoon, although her morning naps are still pretty short. And she's going to bed easier, less fussing. If we're having a good night she'll sleep from 8:30 pm - 8am or so. But that's not necessarily the norm. She's yet to sleep straight through the night. She's always up at some point either for a bottle, binky, or crying just because.
- She loves peek-a-boo. Makes her laugh every time.
- Loves her chicken..
- Loves her sister. She'll watch everything Emma does, smiling and laughing at her.
- Is getting to be a little chunk! :) At her four month appt she was 12 lbs, 11 oz and was 23 3/4 inches long. And she's got a big head, just like her sister. While she's in the 25-5-% for height and weight, she's in the 75-90% for head circumfrance! She's finally out of all her 0-3 month clothes and already some of her 3-6 are getting tight.
- Likes her binky, but likes sucking on her fingers just as much. And chewing on her arm.
- Snores. Loud.
- Being cradled and having her but patted calms her down.
- Is a very content, happy baby. Doesn't get upset all that often. Likes to watch people.
- Likes to be sitting up, whether in your lap, the highchair, exersaucer on Bumbo. Always prefers that over laying down.

And so you can experience the happieness that is Mackenzie smiling and laughing, here she is. (That lovely voice you hear playing peekaboo is mine, just ignore it.)

Run Emma Run

It's only taken me one year and nine months, but I finally figured out how to get video off my camera and onto my computer. Well actually, I think I've always downloaded it, but I could never find it and play it. But tonight, I did. :) Here's Emma running around the gym at the fitness center.You will now be able to see why we take her there - it's to let out all that energy. The child never stops!



Did ya notice the giant bandage on her chin? She fell going up the stairs Wednesday and busted open her chin. No stitches required, but there's going to be nice little scar.

Did anyone watch How I Met Your Mother Tonight? Did you watch the very end and see Barney posting to his blog - it was a flashback to Doogie! They even had the music playing. That was a nice little flashback. I loved Doogie.

Easter

Finally getting to the Easter recap. Only took a week, which really isn't too bad for me!

Easter was a very busy day. We had nursery duty at church, so we got there at 8:30 to attend the first service then worked the next two services. Which meant we didn't leave until 12:50. Emma certainly didn't mind being there the whole time, she loves going to church and, as she says, "play with toys." (We made some progress with that today though, when I asked what she did in church today she said "play with toys," and when I asked what else she said, "Learn about Jesus.") After church, we picked up my mom at our house then headed to Michael's parent's house where we had lunch. Althea hid some eggs for Emma to find which she was really into. Until she figured out there were animal crackers in them. Then she just wanted to open them and eat the crackers. The girl really likes her food. When we got home, Emma searched for the Easter baskets, both her's and Mackenzie's. It was quite the year for Easter baskets, as both girls got four - from us, my mom, Michael's mom and my sister. Emma was loving it.


Our family picture. Emma had a sweater on initially, it was only in the 30's, but took it off not long after we got there.
 

Emma finding an animal cracker.
 

Mackenzie that evening. I had taken off her tights, bloomers and sweater because I was about to put her in her jammies when I realized I hadn't taken a picture of her yet. Didn't get a good one of Emma either, but that's typical considering she rarely sits still.
 

My layouts thank you, Stacy

Meet my scrapbook albums. (Just ignore the temporary dymo labels, eventually there will be cute permanent labels. It's on my super long to-do list.)

 

Prior to reading Stacy Julian's Library of Memories book my pages were all stored in boring, mismatched albums, by year. And while it worked well enough it didn't really feel right to me. Then I read her book. And I got very excited. It was like a light bulb went off. I immediately had to reorganize all my albums. That I "had" to get all new, very cute, coordinating albums was a bonus.

(Funny story - when I explained to Michael how Stacy organized her albums, he looked at my and said "Well yeah, isn't that how you do it? That's how I'd do it." Yes, honey, of course it is.)

Going through my pages and putting them into new categories made me feel good. I enjoyed my pages all over again in a whole new way. And it made me think of my pictures in a new way too. I'm currently in the process of organizing my photos The Library of Memories way. Granted, I started it two years ago, but one day, I'm sure I'll finish. Reorganizing thousands of pictures is a tad overwhelming, after all. But I'm excited to finally have my pictures all organized and easily accessable. I know it'll help me start scrapping some of my older pictures. To tell stories that I otherwise wouldn't get to. To showcase pictures that would otherwise be forgotten.

Eventually I'll even get to that page of my childhood pet dog, Rosie, I've been planning to do. See, I'd like to do one page with pictures from throughout Rosie's 16 years. But that would now require going through 16 years of pictures and let's be honest. I'm not doing that. BUT, when I finally get my pictures all organized, all I'll have to do is go to my pet category, pull out the pictures of Rosie and get scrapping. :)

Thank you Stacy, for changing the way I scapbook. Good luck to you!

PS, in case you hadn't heard, Stacy is stepping down from her editorial role at Simple Scrapbooks and you can read more about it both on Simple's blog and Stacy's.

Meet Charlie

He's adorable.

 
 

Charlie's here!

Marie, BJ and Lily welcomed Charles Oscar into the world today. So excited for my friend. I can't wait to meet the little guy.

Since I don't have a picture of Charlie yet, Here is one of Marie with Mackenzie last week instead.

Miss Mackenzie

So I started this post last Monday, saved it, and never came back to it. But before I get to Easter, I wanted to get this up. So without any further delay, Mackenzie and the rice cereal:

We started rice cereal on the 12th, and since then have introduced bananas (her favorite), carrots (just okay) and sweet potatoes (loves them). She doesn't really care for the rice cereal, so we switched to oatmeal today and that went over better.

Here's Mackenzie's Chicken. This is the best baby toy ever. Given to Mackenzie by Abby and Marty, she loves it. Chews on it every day until the "feathers" and dripping slobber. This was the first object she switched from one hand to the other, as well. That was at the beginning of the month when we were out to dinner. I was so excited that I witnessed it, but then forgot to write down the date. (Pictures from 3/13/08)

Completely out of it.

Love her big blue eyes. I've been messing around with the manual settings on my camera and have managed to get some good pictures. Which inside my house is very had to do. It's so dark that I always used the flash. But as long as my subject sits still, I discovered I actually don't need it. Which means with Emma, I'll always need it.